


Dangers of the Forget-Me-Not

by Pink_Painted_Flowers



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drinking, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I know I tagged ben but this is after uh...you know i sorry, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Multi, Partying, cop juno, illegal drugs later, only some fluff as a treat, peter uses a fake name, theif peter, theyre in their 20s, uhm....ill add more tags later?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:00:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24533473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pink_Painted_Flowers/pseuds/Pink_Painted_Flowers
Summary: Everyone forgets things from their twenties. You make dumb decisions, you lose control and things get hazy. So that's why Juno writes off that one night. That one night where the rest of his life could have diverged onto a different path-Twenty year-old Juno, the flashing lights of a party, a nameless, and smooth-talking guy is already the equation for something disastrous. But when he has to account for the way his friends are dropping out like flies, and the creepy thugs in the walls, it's no longer the fun kind of disaster.
Relationships: Mick Mercury & Benzaiten Steel & Juno Steel & Sasha Wire, Mick Mercury & Juno Steel & Sasha Wire, Mick Mercury/Benzaiten Steel, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	Dangers of the Forget-Me-Not

**Author's Note:**

> ........If you know me you know my track record. LUCKILY, I know exactly how this goes and the plan is for it to just be 3/4 long chapters. Uhm... Not sure what else to say but I hope you enjoy!

Juno would have preferred to blame the disaster this evening would turn into on Mick. Or Sasha. Or the creepy guy whose name would quickly slip into nothing. Hell, he’d love to go so far as to blame his mom for the whole thing. It seemed reasonable, didn’t it? Maybe someday twenty years from now, an older more mature version of himself would rationalize out the night and forgive all of the aforementioned people. That would be if he hadn’t been effectively stripped of his memories of that night by the end of it.

But that was hours away now. At the moment, Juno Steel was in the corner of an overly crowded room, trying to squint through the constantly changing lights that seemed to have their own physical presence, looking for Sasha. He’d reasoned that she was the most likely candidate for him to petition a ride home thirty minutes after having walked in. He’d behaved. Made nice with the three other people he knew at this party, had more than a couple of drinks, and hadn’t started any fights. But the alcohol being passed around really only succeeded in making him sad, and the lace on his cheap thigh highs was starting to get annoying. He was done. Mick and Sasha could do what they wanted from here, but Juno was regretting not driving himself. They should have known he wouldn’t last long.

It sounded stupid, but he wasn’t even sure why he’d come in the first place. This was Mick’s party more than anything. His friends that he’d met god knew where. Mick had just insisted he couldn’t go without the original crew. And what did that mean? He made them sound like a biker gang. But you know what? They didn’t look like they belonged there any more than a real biker gang would.

Mick’s friends were… unfathomably rich. Juno wasn’t an art expert, but he could guess by the golden frames that some of the pieces in the main hall that people were carelessly making out against were worth more than his and Sasha’s academy tuitions combined. There was a dark hallway that he was pretty sure had a sensor guarding it that he wasn’t too keen on experimenting with. And oh, who was to forget the muscled guards at every visible exit? They were told to look casual, but most were doing a subpar job of covering up the fact that they had real guns. Whoever’s house this was had some priceless shit to hide but keeping their wealth a secret was far less appealing than teasing the thought of it all to a reckless group of stupid twenty-somethings. Which meant they had enough money not to care if things went a little south. They could afford to pay off whatever fines, cover up accidents, and probably even replace this entire house if they needed to. It was all disposable, right down to the guest list, and that made Juno furious.  
Someone barreled into his side, knocking him into the countertop he was standing next to.

“Hey, watch it-“

“JJ! I found you, buddy!”

“Oh, no.”

Mick was already a mess, of course, he’d probably started the night long before they even stepped foot inside. His shirt was quickly coming unbuttoned, his jacket was gone, and when he pulled Juno in tight to his side, he could smell sickly sweet punch all over his shoulder. He wrestled away just far enough to look him in the eyes. He was grinning and swaying like an idiot, which would have been infuriating if it hadn’t been the first time in a while he’d really seen Mick smile like that. Juno just sighed.

“Mick, buddy. How, much of that punch have you had?” He was pulled into the same unsteady sway as his friend and it felt like Mick was almost vibrating with excitement when he laughed.

“I don’t even know! This-this-one of my friends just keeps handing ‘em to me so I don’t even have to worry about it. It’s really good Juno, you should try it.” And that confirmed his suspicion. Mick had been on the verge of drunk when they walked in, Juno just had to avoid getting vomited on the rest of the night now. Whoever kept funneling drinks into him could deal with that.

Juno ducked himself under Mick’s arm to lead him over to one of the chairs in the next room over, and away from the bar set up in the kitchen.  
“Hey, now. That’s just great, hope you’re having a good time. Have you seen Sa-“

“You’re not dancing, JJ,” Mick said with a frown, leaning harder on his shoulder. “Please, puh-pretty please dance with me, Juno. Juno, Juno. June-“

“Yep, yeah, that’s my name bud, thanks for reminding me.” He dove for the first open velvet chair he found and practically had to throw Mick down into it. He immediately tried to stand up, but lost his footing and just bounced right back down.

“But you’re such a good dancer,” he muttered, eyes out of focus as he stared somewhere past Juno’s shoulder. “With all the funny twirls and stuff. I always liked watching you dance.” Mick twirled his fingers in the air and was distracted by the movement, so he didn’t see the way Juno’s shoulders jumped, and the way his breath hitched. He clenched his jaw and covered himself with a slow sigh. It did nothing to loosen the hard knot in his stomach though.

“You’re thinking of someone else, Mick. That’s not me.”

“What?” Juno groaned.

“You know what, never mind. Do you know where Sasha went? I want to l-“

“Mick!” Some girls sang from across the room. Mick bounced to his feet this time, arms already outstretched to the girl. She was tiny, with highlighter pink hair, and two glasses full of the bright blue punch from the kitchen. Juno dove in front of Mick, and grabbed both glasses before Mick could funnel anymore down his throat.

“Aw, thanks for the drinks. You’re so sweet really you shouldn’t have.”

“JJ what are you-“

But Juno didn’t catch the end of whatever Mick was going to say, because he was knocked over again, this time he went straight into a podium displaying a strangely gnarled looking vase. The drinks in his hands sloshed down the front of the black dress he was wearing, and he heard something crunch under his elbow and for a moment assumed it was the vase, but that shattered a moment later when it finally hit the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, love," a deep silky voice slurred in his ear.

“Who the hell are you calling love?” Juno shouted, infuriated by the slurring voice, and its drunken owner. Juno whipped around was met with an amused, sloppy smirk, slick black hair, and piercing dark eyes. The guy who’d rammed him into the wall had paused just long enough to lean all lanky six-foot-something of himself unsteady in the doorway and ease himself into an annoy fox grin that Juno refused to admit made his breath stutter.

“You, of course, you delightful thing.” He winked, and Juno’s eyes narrowed, he didn’t sound nearly drunk enough to be this careless, and he absolutely had no right to be looking at his soaked dress like that. “Love the dress, darling.” The softest hint of some strange accent slipped out as the guy whisked himself out of the doorway with a wink.

“Hey!” Juno shouted, straightening himself up. “Hey, we aren’t done here!” He glanced around quickly but couldn’t see Mick or the pink-haired girl anywhere near him anymore. He cursed to himself and turned back to where he’d last seen the jackass who thought he could vanish into thin air on him. He’d behaved himself until now, but he was done, and if he was leaving, he might as well get vindication for this before he did.

He dove into the main hall and scanned for the black hair and red jacket he’d seen a moment ago. He was by the staircase and wandering deeper into the house. He was upright and moved through the crowd like it was water. He definitely wasn’t drunk, which just made him an ass then, and that just made the anger in Juno's gut burn a little more violently.  
Juno was tactless in the way that he shoved himself through the crowd, few of whom gave him much mind. Which was fine, because he was fixated on chasing a head of dark hair ahead of him. He elbowed and stumbled his way through the rise and fall of bodies around him, the lights still pressing against his skull, and the quick movement of his head making him realize just how much he’d had to drink. He tripped over someone’s shoes and was hurtling toward the ground. He reached out almost blind for something to steady himself and came up with a fistful of a neatly ironed silk jacket.

“You.” He bit out when he looked up. There was the quickest flash of surprise in the guy’s eyes before he quickly settled back into that drunken smirk Juno now recognized as a front.

“Can’t keep your hands off, can you? Well I must say-“

“Shut it. What the hell is wrong with you?” Juno spat. To his credit, the guy didn’t drop the drunk act this time, but he did pause, clearly caught off guard by being called out. And as far as Juno cared that just meant he deserved it more often.

“Guess I was just too distracted by your legs in-“

“Oh good, so you’re sober enough to remember me and be disgusting. Hey, listen, I’ll give you a great view of my legs while I’m kicking your ass-what the hell are you doing?” Juno gaped as the guy started unbuttoning the high necked jacket. He slid it off his slim shoulders and Juno came out of his shock for a second to realize he was still wearing an undershirt as well, and then the jacket was over his own shoulders. It didn’t sit quite right, too long where this guy was tall, and the shoulders wouldn’t settle right over how broad Juno's were. But he took in a harsh deep breath, and whatever the guy had on him left Juno dizzy. It was overpowering and filled every empty corner of his chest. It was. . . like nothing, he’d ever smelled before. It made him gag immediately as it stung his nose.

“You’re right,” the guy muttered, trying to be charming as if he could share something intimate here with just the two of them. “It was rude of me to ruin a lady’s dress and not offer my own coat. So if this will quite do to keep you placated…” He started to turn away, but Juno felt his eyes go wideout of his head. That was so not going to fly.  
“Placated? Really?” Juno reached out for the guy’s arm and just as his hand met warm skin a rush of people pressed up against them both of them on their way deeper into the house. The two of them were sideswiped into the dark hallway that Juno had seen earlier, and now his suspicions about it were confirmed.

They made a big deal in the HCPD academy about reaction times. When people’s lives were on the line, sometimes you didn’t have time to observe at the moment or weigh all the possible outcomes. So, you had to be able to move and think on your feet. A skill Juno was still trying to pretend he understood, but one that his stripper, smooth-talking jack ass here seemed to be far too familiar with.

A part of Juno wished he could have seen it all in slow motion. They tripped an invisible line, an alarm sent off one warning sound that was thankfully just drowned out by the music in the living room. There was an arm around his waist pulling him deeper into the hallway and a rush of air that pricked his left ear. When he turned around a thin wire vibrated in the air, he tracked it into the other wall where a small metal arrowhead was buried in the paint. Juno reached up to touch his ear. His fingers came back wet, and he felt his stomach cave in on itself.

Keep moving,” the tall guy growled in his ear, arm still tight around Juno’s waist. He heard another wail from the siren on the wall and decided not to resist being pulled into the door that not drunk drunkard flung open and avoid becoming this house’s grisly marionette.

Sure enough, as they ducked into the room, another wire shot right for where they'd been standing. Juno heard something skid across the floor. A tiny silver disk came to a stop in the middle of the hallway. He looked down at his companion who was on one knee and hands a tiny remote in hand. He clicked a button, and the disk flashed bright white. The alarm was cut off mid screech. They had barely drawn any attention over the rest of the noise, and Juno started to step out back into the hallway to see what in the hell that had been.

“Oh no.” And he was yanked back through the door and it slammed closed after him. There was a dusty yellow light that illuminated a bare hallway, peeling paint, and concrete floors. The dark-haired boy leaned his weight on the hand against the door, and they fell quiet, the only noise the sounds of their heavy breathing. Juno could finally feel the throbbing in his head that had probably been there since he walked through the front door. The walls were soundproof, and that didn’t exactly bode well for him. Not when this guy looked like he would have preferred to rip Juno apart piece by piece than be standing there with him at that exact moment.

“What in the hell was that?” Juno asked between breaths.

“Oh you mean the deadly trap you nearly got us both tangled into?” The guy sounded different now. Smooth and annoyingly poetic, that accent he'd heard a small glimpse of taking over every word. And he clearly hadn’t had a drop to drink. Perfectly sober. “Just a little security measure the family put in to keep people out of their personal business.”

“And you know about this how exactly?”

“I think you’re quite done asking questions.”

“See you’d think that, but I could go on for hours really, like for instance, I could ask who the hell you are or-“ The guy groaned, and shoved his hands through his hair, head tilting back. He snapped his gaze back to Juno and dropped his hands.

“Alright. I don’t have time for this. Come on. We’ll find a door for you to slip back into the party, and this can be over.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll go back outside, and tell everyone there’s some creep sneaking around the booby-trapped hallways of this house. But you’re so quick I’m sure you’d avoid a houseful of drunk twenty-somethings and their guards. So maybe I should give my captain at the HCPD a quick call-“

“You’re a cop?” Juno crossed his arms and just shrugged, noncommittal. Technically speaking he was still in training and had one more week on his current suspension, so he had no power, but this guy didn’t need to know that.

The stripper guy took a step closer. He looked cocky. That fox grin, thinking he’d caught his favorite prey in a corner and all he had to do now was snap its neck. Unlucky for him, Juno didn’t plan to submit that easily.

“I don’t believe you. You see, you would have already shut this whole thing down. So either you’re simply lying to me, or you don’t have the authority to do anything. Either way, you’re not a threat to me.”

“Really self-assured there aren’t you. Where can I pick me up some of that confidence? Sure it cost you a fortune.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but they don’t bottle this. You earn it.” He was inches away now, and the scent that was already lingering around his shoulders grew stronger with every inch that closed between them.

“Hard to believe with that scent you keep tracking. You’re wrong anyway. This party might be annoying and loud, but there’s no one around for a few miles to call in a noise complaint, and everyone here is unfortunately over the legal drinking age. Unless people start smashing and grabbing-“ The guy laughed, and it reminded Juno of a scolding parent who thought their child was too dumb and inexperienced to be talking. A sound he knew unfortunately well. It was official: Juno hated him.

“Oh thank god. For a moment I was beginning to think you knew what you were talking about.”

“What do you mean?” Juno snapped.

Before he could answer, a hysterical laugh echoed from behind them. It sent ice down Juno’s spine like a poison, because he knew that sound. That laugh. He spun to find darkness down the hall he could fathom the end of.

“Sasha?” He called into the shadows. The same laugh called back, shrill, and delusional. His heart stopped, and then he was sure. What was she doing in here?

“Sa-!” A hand clamped down tight over his mouth.

“I can guarantee you two things: we aren’t alone in these tunnels, and neither of us wants to be caught by whoever it is.” Juno threw the guy off of him and shot him a nasty glare.  
“How in the hell do you know so much about this house? No, you know what I don’t care.” Juno started walking away from him and in the direction that Sasha’s voice had come from. “Do whatever it was you were about to do, keep your secrets, and I’ll keep mine. It was nice dodging deadly booby traps with you, but I gotta go.” He just glared right back and crossed his arms.

“And how is it you expect to make it through all of this on your own?”

Juno stopped and turned back around. “Are you offering to be my tour guide?”

“No. Absolutely not.” Juno gave the guy a sarcastic, lazy salute.

“Then I guess I’ll figure it out-“

This time it was an ear-splitting scream. Somewhere down that long dark hallway, Sasha was screaming. She wasn’t saying anything, wasn’t calling for anyone, but it sounded like she was in pain. And that was enough to send Juno running down the hall. He heard the guy behind him curse and follow.

As they ran, dim lights came to life overhead, triggered by their movement. It was just enough to note the faded paint on the walls and the patterns of wear in the dust on the floor. They didn’t pass any doors, but Juno could see a few branches into other hallways ahead. For a moment he thought about diving down one of the halls but decided against it. Sasha’s voice had sounded too clear to have come from a separate hall. It wasn’t a great hunch, but it was all he had to work on.

Finally, he saw a door at the end of the hallway. It was made of old, dark wood, and looked like Juno could lean himself on it the wrong way, and it would crack. He was debating how much he cared about the dress he was wearing as it came to slamming the heel of his boot into the door when still-nameless-and-annoyed finally caught up to him, arm around his waist from behind.

“Get off-“ but he didn’t get to finish. There was a hollow shatter followed by another as Nameless guy spun two…..were those knives? A camera, and another sensor. He hadn’t seen those a second ago. Juno was released, and Nameless guy shook his arm a bit, dripping off some of the drink still sticking to Juno’s dress.

“Listen to me,” he started, and for the first time that night, Juno shut his mouth. “It seems you’re going to be more trouble to get rid of than it’s worth for me. You want to find whoever it is behind that door?-“

“Her name is Sasha,” Juno bit out.

“Sasha, fine. We’re doing this my way. I don’t know what they teach you in the academy but we will not just go barreling through whatever doors we please. You don’t even know what’s behind this one.”

“And you do?” He was picking up his hidden throwing knives as he spoke but looked up at Juno’s question.

“I could just say yes, but I doubt that would satisfy you.”

“That’s enough pyscho-analyzing from you. I don’t even know your name, of course, I’m not going to trust you.”

“Till.” He cut in.

“Just, Till? That’s it?” Till cocked his head to the side.

“You’ve seen some of what I do. Do you think I just give out my full name for free? I don’t expect you’ll return the favor then?” He didn’t want to, but the hall had been uncomfortably silent since he’d last heard Sasha, and nothing had happened since Till had taken out the security measures which meant she was probably alone and they had time to get her out of here before anyone came asking questions. Better to just play the game for a moment.

“It’s a Juno.” Till nodded and turned back toward the door.

“Alright then, Juno. If you’re quite finished with your reckless pursuit…” He came in close to examine the lock on the door, careful not to touch it just yet. Juno shuffled uncomfortably behind him. He didn’t like waiting around and would already be in there if it weren’t for Till. The approach didn’t matter so much, he could always figure it out once he got inside. Besides, this standing around was giving him too much time to feel just how gross he was after having that drink spilled all over him.

Till scoffed to himself before pulling away from the door.

“A simple analog clock. I truly expected better.” He reached up and fumbled with the collar of his undershirt. He pulled at the seam and a thin lock pick, the likes of which Juno had never seen before, slipped out. He took a mental note that this guy was more than armed to the teeth over every inch of his body. Juno was trying to decide how he felt about that as Till worked the lock. There was a small click as it gave up the ghost, and Juno heard Sasha laughing again, high pitched and hysterical.

Juno shoved Till to the side and threw himself at the door. Sasha continued laughing as he threw it open and came to meet a dark stairwell down to the basement. The stairs groaned under his feet, under kept, not even in comparison to the rest of the mansion, just in general. Till grabbed his arm behind him and pulled Juno back up.

“Wait,” Till hissed at him. Juno had to stifle down the anger and anxiety curling up in his chest. Till seemed to read the glare he was shooting and shook his head as he stepped in front of Juno far quieter than he had been.

“I’m not saying we leave her,” he whispered. “But we must be cautious in our approach, we don’t know who else might be with her. And we don’t want to give them a reason to hurt her.” Juno worked his jaw in silence at that. Till was right and he knew it, but it didn’t mean Juno liked working with him. Control and restraint were not normally at the top of his list of skills but considering Sasha’s life was probably on the line? Juno shook his head hard as he stepped carefully behind Till. Just let him get you down there, get Sasha, and go. That was all he had to do, wasn’t it? The rest of the party, and this guy, who was more than likely a criminal, be damned.

They got about halfway down the stairs, Till ahead checking for traps and loose boards when Juno saw the light. The basement was empty, a room of solid dusty concrete, but in the middle of the small space was a single exposed light in the ceiling, illuminating a metal chair, and a limp body. Sasha’s dark hair was mussed and matte under the light. She was quiet now, and that fact didn’t sit well with Juno.

“To hell with this,” he muttered and darted around Till. His footsteps echoed just enough to drown out the hissed sound of his name behind him. Cold air froze over his skin where it was still drying from the drink he’d spilled. Juno shivered as he came around to face Sasha and she looked… fine really. Well not entirely fine, but she wasn’t beat up or bleeding as he’d expected. She was slumped over herself, tied at the wrists and ankles to the chair; her dark eyes foggy, but she was smiling. She startled a bit when she looked up at him and then giggled, not a normal sound from her.

“I know you. Pretty Junebug! Hello..” she trailed off, and Juno’s heart hitched. Her voice was pitched up and sounded over-saturated as if someone were editing a recording of what they thought Sasha’s voice sounded like. Her speech was slow and slurred, and Juno was beginning to pile on a few different fears about what could have happened to her. He kneeled in front of her and began looking at the bindings around her wrists.

“Shit Sasha,” he muttered.

“I know you hate that name, but I think it’s so cute,” she laughed again, and Juno felt his blood run cold. He saw Till move out of the corner of his eyes, walk around to the wall where the light didn’t quite reach. Juno couldn’t be bothered with him just then. Get Sasha out, he kept telling himself. Just get Sasha out.

“That’s not really my concern right now, Sasha,” he muttered. She was being held by thin black leather straps. They fed into slots welded into the chair and were tightened by a few different keyholes. Juno didn’t enjoy thinking about what the chair had been designed for. It was almost archaic in its design, but… well if whoever you wanted to be strapped down was as out of it as Sasha seemed to be when you didn’t need a whole lot to keep them in place.

There was a shuffle of metal coming from where Till was standing.

“What are you doing over there?” he called over his shoulder as he continued to unstrap Sasha.

“Just get her out of here, Juno.” His voice is different, and it caused Juno to still. Till’s voice is low and terse. If Juno knew him better maybe he could pick up on the fear that leaked out of his words. Would be able to tell that whatever Till had found on that tray was not something he could have planned around. Which was very, very bad.

Juno unfortunately did not have such insight and made up his mind that Till was just being a dismissive dick, and he was done trying to play nice. Which was probably why the next few hours played out the way they did.

Juno pulled Sasha free from her last bond and gathered her against his chest. She may have mumbled something about him being sticky, but he ignored her to snap at Till.  
“You know what if you’re just going to be a dick about this whole thing-“

“Juno-“ he tried to warn as he turned to face him. Something glinted in his hand, but Juno didn’t get a chance to wonder what it was before something shattered at their feet. Juno looked down to see glass shards at the toes of his boots, and a faint purple fog beginning to rise out of it. Tendrils reaching up over his boots, wrapping around his calves, a soft floral scent easing itself into his airways.

“Now, now. How did you find your way down here then? Not enjoying the party?” Both Juno a Till looked up at the sound of a deep and raspy voice. A man stepped in from the shadows. His head nearly skimmed the low ceiling. He was all hulking shoulders and muscles; gray looking skin and scars and long stringy hair pulled into a wreck of a knot on the nape of his neck. Half of his face was covered by a sleek gas mask. So whatever smoke was twirling up to their hips was not approved for human consumption then.  
Till stepped in between Juno and Gas-Mask, and tried to laugh, as if he could smooth over the whole situation.

“This is just a little misunderstanding.” He’d changed his accent back to that smooth voice Juno had heard when Till had shoved him upstairs. “We were trying to find someplace… to be alone and ran into this poor girl and thought we might help her out. You don’t happen to know anything about that do you now?” Gas-Mask didn’t reply. Instead, he unsheathed a long knife from some hidden compartment at his hip, twirled it in his fingers, and there was a dangerous glint to his eyes. Juno knew that look. This guy had them just where he wanted them, and knew he was far more well prepared. That was the look of a predator about to thoroughly enjoy his moment of victory.

Till sighed.

“Well, I suppose not then. Dear?” He called over his shoulder. And it took Juno a half-second to realize, Till was talking to him.

“What the-“

“I do believe I misplaced something in the lining of the jacket I loaned you that our friend here might find… quite engaging. If you’d like to show him.” His tone took on that same low cadence, and he locked eyes with Juno. A quiet warning.

“Oh… Yes of course…dear.”

“Do not move,” Gas-Mask warned, brandishing his knife up, but Till got there before anyone else could think.

He knocked the guy’s arm away, and grabbed his wrist, using that momentum to pull him in and give Till better access to punch the guy right in the nose with a wet crack. At the same time, Juno’s fingers reached for the edge of the silk jacket and felt a thin, light something on his hip. He reached in and got his hands around the hilt of a knife he hadn’t noticed before with how discreetly it was tucked away. It immediately hummed to life under his fingers with an energy he didn’t recognize.

“Well shit,” Juno whispered.


End file.
